First we've seen "Don't tread on me" die. Now we're seeing "Joga Bonito" die. Both of Nike's overhyped marketing campaigns look to have crashed, which is pretty sad. The tragedy is, some of the mainstream sport following people (who aren't bigots but had barely gotten interested in soccer) have started talking stuff like: "See, this is why soccer is a crap sport and why Americans don't care about it". Honestly, I don't know what to say to them specifically about this World Cup after the penalties given to Ghana, Italy and the farce known as Portugal-Netherlands. I can point to them some of the bright points of the World Cup. Like excitement brought on by a young German team and Juergen Klinsmann (I used to be a traditional Germany hater BTW), incredible matches like Argentina-Mexico, Argenina-Serbia&Montenegro etc. But these people turn noses at stuff like that. Once again, they're not bigots. But it's hard for newbies to relate to the exciting style brought by youngsters in Germany and their hybrid-Californian coach with an exciting personality himself. Of course, I could lecture them about Earthquakes' demolition of Galaxy at Spartan in 2003, Thierry Henry's single-handed destruction of Liverpool on Easter Monday 2004, or ManUtd's 2 stoppage time goal against Bayern Muenchen in 1999. But do you think these people would relate to stuff like that if they can't relate to the positives of this World Cup?
Agree with you on the Australians being robbed big time. I still think it has been a great WC. People, the word is portuguese. Not like some of you have been spelling it. Good luck to Portugal.
two of soccer's finest moments! Paradoxically, and maddeningly, it will take a great WC showing to build greater public support, IMO. We were poised, having been ranked amongst FIFA's to ten for the past 4 years, to elevate public interest, but obviously suffered a considerable setback with that showing... ...MLS is still our best bet, we just need to balance builiding stadiums with developing new talent. The quality of the game has suffered here, with USMNT players abroad, etc....but, with the right guts, vision and leadership, MLS is still our best bet. Right now, the corporate cronies are making the calls...and shooting themselves in the foot. We need soccer experience and passion at the helm too. We need Wee Man!!
As much as I think the Italian could have stayed up, if he had, he would have still been at a disadvantage due to the position of the Aussie defender and the hindrance which he caused the Italian. The Italian was playing for the foul and he got it. It is not unlike the point guard driving for the basket through a clogged lane when he has no chance of scoring, only driving to get the foul. It is not unlike the reciever slightly slowing his run, knowing the defender would run through him to draw the interference penalty. While I don't like that type of play, there is no way, through rule changes, better officiating or replays, you can stop an offensive player from drawing a foul. Although the Italian "enhanced" the penalty, even upon video review, I think the penalty would have still been called. The Australian shouldn't have left his feet in the box. The Italian took advantage of the Australian's missed tackle and Australia paid dearly. And I was cheering for Australia.
I don't absolve TnT in the least. They've never been angels as we know all to well. The Crouch thing bugs me a lot because of it's high risk to injure. That adds to me personally a uniquely sinister element. Not that I think Crouch is even vaguely smart enough to know that and stopped to think...."gee, if I yank his neck laterally and something prevents his torso coming around with it, we might all go his funeral after the Cup--no biggie, not all that likely, it's worth it." It's just something about hair pulling that's like spitting or kicking someone in the nuts or head butting that seems a step lower even than diving. The thing about England is that I watch that league, I like a lot of their players, and I just have so much higher expectation for them when it comes to sportsmanship like I do the US. Almost all the teams are worse than them truthfully. It's all about my expectations for them.
No argument from me. They should just send them both home and give the spot to Tunisia or one of the other teams jobbed by a cheat.
You articulated very well one of the main reasons why the USMNT must have a foreign coach....to learn to cope best we can with what others will do. It's not really the solution at all to fixing the ugly bits of the game. But it might help the US not suffer so much from these sorts of tactics.
I was thinking that every foul after it got silly should be a sendoff just to have a handful of players left to run around the pitch, but how about this: the _th red or _th yellow gets the keeper removed. Don't think players would think twice before letting it get to this? Of course, the extreme goal count thereafter would have to include *'s to explain, but the entertainment value could be breathtaking, sort of.
No. Joga bonito is alive and well. It's being played right now in Germany. The POR/NET game got out of hand when a player from the Netherlands refuse to give the ball back to Portugal on a "fair play" situation. That showed the character of what Portugal was playing against. Did anyone notice Deco and a player for the Netherlands sitting together after they both got red carded? That was beautiful. Players from both teams lost their heads, and they are all guilty of stupidity. It's still a good time for all soccer fans. Longe da vista, mas sempre perto do corasao!!!!!!!!!!! Still missing our Quakes in San Jose, and LA STILL SUCKS.
It was van Bronckhorst and Deco, both midfielders for Barcelona who have been playing with each other for years, and very good buddies. Who knows how many training sessions and Champions League travel miles they've had together. No, sorry. That alone doesn't qualify for Joga Bonito being alive. BTW, I think Deco was sent off for not letting a Portuguese player take a free kick, and holding on to the ball.
Not gonna happen! Of all the teams to survive the group stage, the Ukraine is the weakest and the biggest patsy. Italy is in the semi finals.
The diving and flopping have got to end. I think FIFA should review game tape and swiftly hand out suspensions or fines. For example, within minutes of a game ending, FIFA officials can review game tape and discern who dove. Before the players are done showering and changing, the suspensions or retro-active yellows can be doled out. Hell, it can be part of the post-game press conference! Doing this after the game has the advantage of not interrupting the flow of the game. It would take a game or two for the players to get used to it but they will quickly adjust if a game suspension was the the penalty (pun intended) for diving, especially in the box.
Hi, this is my first visit to this forum, I like it and I want your help to know in which forum here can I sale my world cup forum ( LINK REMOVED- mod note, please don't post links to other forums, thanks Bhoysfc1995) I which for all in this great forum, administration, moderators,members & visitors a nice soccer time. Best regards, Bb
You are absolutely correct on this and your post hit’s the nail it right on the head . FIFA should and could lead they way in an effort to stamp out diving. The Aussies were cheated, no question about it. The Italian player made the contact happen, this was a out and out dive. FIFA should have a committee of three well respected experts from three different countries not involved in the finals (use FIFA ranking to determine which non qualifying countries) reviewing games as they happen and announcing suspensions immediately after the game. This would scare the shit out of divers. This would set an example for each country to clean up it’s act in it’s respective League. If they choose to ignore it on the local level they take the chance of bringing divers to the next World Cup and they may pay the price. If the US was in the Semifinals against Italy and this happened to them the US soccer hating media would have a field day and the “this is why soccer will never make it here” brigade would be loving it.
and for God's sake can we review offsides too! refs continue to offer the red carpet treatment to Brazil. it takes the tv 2 seconds to have the replay, this could be something the fourth official could do instantly
Not necessarily disagreeing, but actually I think offside is called too aggressively (more often called when it isn't vs. not called when it is). I would like to see them err more on the side of not calling when it is because it will help open up games and maybe reduce the incentive for players to dive in order to score. In terms of the beautiful game, I would much rather see a goal by virtue of a timed run that is a fraction of a second too early vs. a PK by way of an embellishment on contact in the box. I'm not saying don't call offsides if it is offsides. But if it's close and you're not sure, let it go, and account for the possibility that the player may have passed the last defender while the ball was in the air, for example. TV replay could help in this scenario because it can catch the calls that weren't made but should have been made (freeing up linemen to err on the side of not making the call - if it was offside, the replay will catch it). But one issue is that you need to have the right angle in the TV replay.
Brazil looked offside, but I agree with Jazzy about giving the benefit to the attacker when it's too close to be obvious. Isn't the point of offside to prevent someone from gaining an unfair advantage on offense? Quibbling about which body parts were in front of other parts seems pointless. Similarly, I don't like seeing offside called--exemplified by a call today against Ghana--when almost everyone on both teams is clustered by the goal and in the course of running around, an attacker steps slightly closer to the goal than any of the defenders. That's hardly an unfair advantage for the attacking team. That said, the first half of today's game was the first time I've seen anything resembling WC-level soccer in this cup.
In Adriano's case, he was offside the entire time Brazil were setting up that play. He made no effort to get back onside. It looks very bad, especially in combination with other calls in this tournament.
Recriminate! Recriminate! Recriminate! The Buck Sure as Hell Doesn't Stop Here. However, I like the Sarachan comment: '...yet his fellow coach at the Chicago Fire, Dave Sarachan, says everybody is overthinking this. “Maybe it’s more simplistic, like we just didn’t play well,” said Sarachan, an assistant to Arena at the 2002 World Cup. “We fell flat in the tournament. We have MLS players who can play in the World Cup. Jimmy Conrad and Clint Dempsey played very well. I don’t think MLS is the fault of the national team not playing well in the World Cup.”'